An AP error?

Nope.

CUTTING OFF DEBATE: The AP gets it backward. There's a pattern to these errors, it seems.

The only pattern here is Putz falsely accusing the AP.

The San Francisco Chronicle:

Senate Republicans on Monday blocked debate on the Iraq war, stymieing efforts by Democrats to send even a weak bipartisan message opposing President Bush's order of 21,500 more troops into an intensifying civil war in Baghdad and Anbar province.

The Denver Post:

Republicans blocked a Senate debate and vote on the war in Iraq on Monday, stalling consideration of a resolution opposing President Bush's plans to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to patrol the streets of Baghdad.

The Houston Chronicle:

Prior to a test vote Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appealed for an open debate on all the resolutions. He pointed to the Senate's failure to speak out in recent years as the death toll mounted in Iraq. "As senators and Americans, we cannot allow the silence to continue," Reid said. His appeal failed to persuade many Republicans. The measure to begin debate on the Iraq resolutions did not receive the necessary 60 votes that would make it filibuster-proof. However, the delay simply postpones the inevitable.

USA Today:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates' appearance before Congress today to defend the Bush administration's military budget is the first opportunity for Democrats to press the Iraq issue since Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to debate the topic on the Senate floor.

The Kansas City Star:

Republicans blocked the Senate from beginning debate Monday on the Iraq war.

Bloomberg:

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell used a legislative maneuver to delay a debate on Iraq war policies that promised to embarrass President George W. Bush and force some Republican lawmakers to cast politically unpopular votes.

But the Bush-hating AP got the story backward.

Cutting off debate on measures you find politically inconvenient with a filibuster so you can introduce other measures you find less politically damaging is still cutting off debate.

UPDATE

There's a 37,000 word response to the thread in comments here.

I thought they were kidding, but these people really do believe that every major newspaper in the country has misrepresented this story, that the principled and righteous Republicans really, really, really want to debate Iraq (because they've demonstrated this time and time again), and those mean Democrats just won't let them.

It's just all very strange.

For a saner view, try here and here.

Money quote:

What is currently being contested in the Senate is whether or not to allow S.470 to move from the calendar onto the floor for a full debate. The Senate has been engaged not in a debate over the Resolution, but, rather, has been having a debate as to whether or not to have an actual debate (or to put it another way, they have been debating a procedural issue, whether to take the S.470 off the Calendar, rather than debating the content of the Resolution itself–although I will grant that in practical terms those items get mixed). As such, the GOP is blocking an actual debate that could culminate in a vote on the Resolution at issue. As such, the reporting on this issue has been accurate.

UPDATED AGAIN

Read the comments. "Err, well, I may be wrong, but the press is still wrong. The left is wrong. Everyone is wrong. But read Blue Texan's link."

Hilarious.